Modern intensity-frontier superconducting pulsed accelerators need Radio Frequency (RF) sources with pulsed power up to hundreds of kilowatts at an average power of tens of kilowatts to support the phase and amplitude instability of SRF cavity accelerating fields to much less than 1 degree and 1%, respectively. Compensations for harmful effects of microphonics, Lorentz Force Detuning (LFD), and beam loading are provided by dynamic phase and power control to support accelerating field stability at the required level. Successful implementation of such control requires sufficiently wide bandwidth of the RF transmitter.
The traditional RF sources such as klystrons, Inductive Output Tubes (IOTs), and solid-state amplifiers are expensive, and their cost represents a significant fraction of the accelerator project cost. Usage of megawatt (MW)-scale klystrons feeding groups of cavities allows some cost reduction, but modulators for MW-scale klystrons are quite expensive. Moreover, this choice only provides control of the vector sum of the accelerating voltage for a group of cavities, which may be insufficient to minimize longitudinal beam emittance. Therefore, RF sources that are dynamically controlled in phase and power around the carrier frequency, feeding each SRF cavity individually, and operating without high-voltage modulators are preferable for high intensity pulsed accelerators in large-scale projects.
Magnetrons are more efficient and less expensive than the above-mentioned traditional RF sources [1]. The low capital cost of magnetron power (e.g., up to 1 US Dollar per Watt) allows powering each cavity individually, which greatly improves stability of the voltage and phase in each cavity. Thus, utilization of magnetron RF sources in large-scale accelerator projects can significantly reduce the cost of an RF power generation system.